4A

Week 2 journal- Action Research in Education

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Action Research Reflection

Action research is the process of systematic inquiry to improve social issues affecting people’s everyday lives. Action research is associated with Kurt's work, where the research methodology was considered dynamic, cyclic, and collaborative. These characteristics make action research easy and appropriate to help educators and learners facilitate effective teaching and learning. Through constant and repeated planning cycles, observations, and reflections, individuals and groups engaged in action research can quickly implement changes necessary for facilitating social improvements. Action research is an attractive alternative for stakeholders in the learning and teaching environment to consider. Acton research is essential in promoting new and alternative teaching methods through constant review and reflection on the effectiveness of the given practices and selecting the most appropriate strategies.

Primarily, the aim of action research in education is to establish ways through which the lives of students while at the same time enhancing the performance of professionals to work within the educational system. It gives teachers and other educational professionals a chance to analyze and scrutinize a situation before coming up with a solution. Constant interaction with various studies allows educators to learn new information regarding their teaching practice and students’ needs (Argyropoulos et al., 2009). This ensures that they remain up to date on various educational issues and practices. Interaction between professionals allows them to share information and improve their practices for a practical student experience.

Constant research allows educators to interact with new ideas and information, allowing them to improve the teaching practices by allowing them to interact with one another, reflect on the information, and determine the applicability of every information in enhancing students' learning abilities. For instance, action research can enable teachers to understand the best practices applicable to their students (Mertler, 2017). The study allows learning how different professionals tend to deal with various challenges, determine whether it is practical, and develop strategies to improve these strategies to fit the specific needs of students.

Essentially, action research considers teachers as agents and sources of educational changes instead of objects of reform. Action research empowers teachers to have professional knowledge through action inquiry to conceptualize, create, interact, transform, and apply the acquired knowledge (Conscious Educating, 2009). Additionally, it enables teachers to reflect on various practices to improve them and promote more autonomy in professional decision-making. I also encourage developing and enhancing a more energetic and dynamic learning or teaching environment, articulating and building craft knowledge, and acknowledging and appreciating their expertise (Mertler, 2017). Action research assumes yay teaching practices are embedded in the science of uniqueness, recognizing that human activities are idiosyncratic. These researches tend to vary with time, culture, place, ecology, obliquities, uncertainty, together with unforeseen circumstances.

The action research process enables teachers to concurrently inquire about a problem and take the necessary and appropriate action to solve it. As a process, it is a sustained, intentional, reclusive, and dynamic process through which teachers inquire and take actions with the specific and purposeful classroom context to promote teaching and learning. It is usually action-focused research. However, it is also a mental disposition that presents being in the classroom and school (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). Teacher-researchers get the opportunity to address and readdress issues based on the reflection on the actions to ensure that they prioritize effective teaching and learning (Argyropoulos et al., 2009). Action research enables teachers to understand students from the capabilities and needs of each individual to ensure that the developed solutions are fit to meet each need. The reflection-action refection-action process ensures that research issues, changes, and actions are constantly improved, others discarded, or even focused further.

Action research considers knowledge contextual with the uncd4erstandiing that individual actions occur in the context and must be comprehended in a context (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). Besides, it assumes that knowledge is usually tentative and probabilistic hence being subject to continuous modifications. It assumes that the development of teachers entails lifelong learning in changing and multi-dimensional contexts. It is generally based on the reality of school, classroom, teachers, and students, where study and inquiry lead to action that makes the difference in learning and teaching (Conscious Educating, 2009). Practicing continued strategies and skills of teachers’ action research can help educators develop essential pedagogy, change the identity of teachers from experts to inquirers, and make it challenging for them to take the classroom dynamic as a joke. They are always inquiring about the applicability of various practices and are ready to improve them for the well-being of their students.

Action research is an essential part of the teaching and learning process. It works towards enhancing the teaching and learning abilities to ensure that students have equal learning opportunities. Action research enables teacher-researchers to constantly interact and improve the teaching processes by developing, reflecting, and improving the various processes. Action research allows learners and educators to interact and share new information, which is essential for improved processes. The process enables professionals to come together, discuss information and provide ideas that they consider effective teaching to ensure smooth learning processes among students, including those struggling with learning disabilities.

References

Argyropoulos, Vassilios S. and Nikolaraizi, Magda A. (2009)'Developing inclusive practices through collaborative action research, European Journal of Special Needs Education,24:2,139 — 153

Conscious Educating. (2009, November 7). Action research in the classroom part 1 (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDVH0u4tUWo

Head, A. J., & Eisenberg, M. B. (2010, November 1). Truth be told: How college students evaluate and use information in the digital age (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535166.pdf

Mertler, C. A. (2017). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (5th ed.) [Electronic version]. Sage Publications.